Let’s go a little Roshamon, here.
Version One: Timothy Jay Rose was one of those drunks with a gun. He’d had three beers, over several hours, when a guys swerved off the sidewalk, crashed into a tree, and looked like he was about to drive away. So, out of a desire to show how tough he was, he whipped out his gun, and told the guy to stay there, and was properly arrested and prosecuted. He got off just because the driver’s story kept changing, and because the one uninvolved witness wasn’t interested in seeing the at least semi-drunk gun nut prosecuted.
Version Two: Timothy Jay Rose was, and is, the kind of guy who doesn’t want to see your kid, or mine, squashed by some drunk or crazy driver. Even though he’d had a beer or three, over several hours, when a guy swerved off the sidewalk, and crashed into a tree, he did the only thing that he was sure he could do to keep the guy there, so he wouldn’t be out driving and squashing more kids, and while he’s been able to avoid getting punished by conviction for that good deed, he’s in real danger of losing his carry permit. And he’s definitely spent more on lawyers than he’d budgeted for.
Me, I dunno. But if I’m around, some driver smashes into something and looks like he’s about to drive off and maybe squash some kid, if he does, don’t blame me. I’ll probably just yell, “Hey, stay there, and wait for the cops.” Probably. After I make sure where my family members are. I mean, I’m sure you’ve got a real nice wife, husband, kid, or friend, but I don’t know them. Probably.
I report; you get to figure out what you’re going to do.
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I think that a carry permit is for your own personal protection and the fact that you have sought out an instructor, paid for the class and at least paid enough attention to pass the tests, you should have thought about when and why you would present your firearm. Was Rose ethically and legally correct in his decision to present his weapon for inspection by a drunk driver? When did these two things start running concurrently? Timothy Jay Rose’s decision to use his firearm as a stop sign instead of alerting the police and using all other methods open to him was HIS decision. The consequences of which, it is assumed, he had rationally thought through. The beer is an extension of the same thought process. If one is responsible enough to have a carry permit, one should be responsible enough not to get fitshaced while carrying. Mr. Rosenberg, I would have to agreed that I would first find out where my own family was (an extension of self defense) and then take as much action as I am prepared to take in order to stop an idiot from hurting anyone else.
Not that I’m a big “spirit of the law” kinda guy, but I doubt that any argument for the right to concealed carry included “I’d wave my gun at a drunk driver who was threatening to leave the scene of an accident”. It is deadly force for a reason.
Sure, to most of that. That said, I don’t think there’s any reason to believe Rose was over the .04 BAC limit during the incident; he wasn’t charged with that, after all.
Let’s assume, for the purposes of argument, that he was utterly in the right, morally and legally — which isn’t at all inconsistent with what’s been presented: assume that he had a well-founded belief that the driver was drunk, was going to leave if Rose didn’t show a gun, and was going to endanger lots of folks if he did that.
Was it still the right call? Me, I dunno. The one thing I’m sure of is that it involved a lot of risks, and that it easily could have gone a lot worse for him.
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